Takijiro Onishi

Takijiro Onishi (2 June 1891-16 August 1945) was an Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy who commanded the Japanese Special Attack Group during World War II.

Biography
Takijiro Onishi was born on 2 June 1891 in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1912 and was educated in combat aircraft in England and Japan; by 1941, he was Chief-of-Staff of the Japanese 11th Air Fleet. In 1944, he commanded the first kamikaze unit, 100 pilots on Luzon in the Philippines. On 16 August 1945, unable to deal with the surrender of Japan to the United States, Onishi wrote an apology to the 4,000 men whom he had sent to their deaths before committing seppuku.